Potential Benefits of a Comprehensive Multimedia Telemedia System in Radiotherapy

Holmberg, O, Physics Dept., St. Luke's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
McGivney, J, Physics Dept., St. Luke's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
Hollywood, D, Dept. of Radiation Oncology, St. Luke's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland

A telemedicine partnership has been established under the Ireland - Northern Ireland - National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Consortium. This partnership utilises the TeleSynergy® system, which was developed at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of USA, in order to communicate radiotherapy information. The system enables input from multiple sources of information for case review in the consortium clinics. Input-sources include: (1) image-files from treatment planning system; (2) digitised high-resolution diagnostic radiology images; (3) pathology slides directly from microscope; (4) treatment charts viewed by document imager; (5) moving images from S-video source; and (6) high-quality video and audio teleconferencing facilities. The system provides tools such as shared cursors and interactive contouring of organs and lesions. TeleSynergy® has initially been used for expert case reviews.

Engaging in telemedicine-consultations can influence clinical decisions made in radiation therapy. Since there is a continued uncertainty about the potential benefit of telemedicine in radiotherapy, a study has been initiated in St. Luke's Hospital, which aims to quantify the measurable impact of a comprehensive multimedia telemedicine system on the decision-making process. Various determination-factors (i.e. medical, biological, physical, social and personal criteria) are contributing towards clinical decisions with varying relative importance. By scoring these factors pre- and post-telemedicine consultation, and by measuring changes in delineation of target volume pre- and post-consultation, the impact of the telemedicine application on decisions will be quantified.